Newsom makes pick for Muni Board

Mayor Gavin Newsom today nominated Leona Bridges to fill a vacancy on the Municipal Transportation Agency governing board. If confirmed by the Board of Supervisors, Bridges would come to the high-profile post with no professional experience or a history of activism in transportation issues.

Instead, Newsom picked her for her background in finance, said the mayor’s spokesman, Tony Winnicker. ”Her expertise is financial, and that perspective is needed on the MTA Board.”

Now retired, Bridges worked as the managing director of the global index and markets group at Barclays Global Investors. She started her career in securities lending at Well Fargo. She earned an undergraduate degree in business from San Francisco State University and a master of business administration from Golden Gate University. She created an endowed scholarship at SF State’s College of Business to support disadvantaged students. She also has an active supporter of the San Francisco Symphony.

”She may not be a City Hall insider or professional activist, but she’s a regular bus rider, churchgoer and long-time San Francisco resident who I’m confident will bring new energy and a valuable perspective to the board,” said Newsom, who is leaving the mayor’s job next month to become California’s new lieutenant governor.

Bridges was not immediately available for comment, but Winnicker said she is quite familiar with Muni as a regular rider of the 38-Geary. She lives in the Anzavista neighborhood.

Newsom, who appoints all seven members to the Muni board — with Board of Supervisors approval — last nominated Cheryl Brinkman, a transit and pedestrian activist who won the unanimous backing of the supervisors.

Members of the Board of Supervisors have made clear over the past two years that they want a strong board to oversee and protect Muni, the Bay Area’s busiest transit agency with about 700,000 boardings a day. The agency oversees not just Muni, but also San Francisco’s bike, pedestrian, parking, traffic control and taxi operations.

Plagued by chronic budget deficits, Muni was forced in the spring to cut service an historic 10 percent. About two-thirds of the lost service was restored in September, and now city officials are scrambling to come up with a funding plan to make a full restoration.

Muni management also is preparing to enter into contract negotiations with the operators union, which will be a big test for agency administrators, as well as the board of directors, now that voters overwhelming approved Proposition G on last month’s ballot that gave management more power at the negotiating table with the goal of reining in labor costs and labor-friendly work rules.